Desperado
by Peter
Summary: Love, Revenge, a Vampire Hunter


Desperado 

This fic has elements of the movie Desperado and BVtS BVtS is in third season, no sign of Faith in this story neither the elements of the movie 'Desperado' nor BVtS are mine but are instead properties of their respective owners. Jose Regaldo is the property of this author however and can't be used without his permission. Forgive me if I don't get the Desperado part right I've only seen it once and I liked the concepts and the name. There is also a quote from 'IndependenceDay' that also happens not to be mine. 

Note that Regaldo speaks in a mix of Spanish and English. Since my Spanish is not good, please take anything he might say in the mixture as one of his oddities. 

El Desperado Peter 

Prologue 

Three years before present . . .near Phoenix, Az. Scene shows Jose Regaldo, playing a guitar with his girlfriend Linda just out of sight of the town they both grew up in and a few feet from his car. 

The jazz tune is elegent and soothing, almost surprisenly so coming from a guitar. "That song is so beautiful," Linda says as he finishes. 

"It is nothing compared to the company with me." Jose says as he prepares to play another song. That is when they are attacked by several men. Jose and Linda manage to shake off the people that are attacking them and try to run toward the church. Jose bangs on the door as the men, shrowded in darkness, come closer. The door opens and the suprised pastor is almost pushed down by Jose. He runs in and Linda tries to, but one of the men grab her. Jose tries to hold on, but can't get a grip around her wet hand and Linda is dragged away. The man tries to grab Jose's hand just as Jose loses his grip on Linda but Jose manages to pull it away at expense of broken bones and bleeding flesh. Jose sees the man dragging Linda away and sees that the man isn't a man, but something inhuman. "Linda!" Jose yells out just as the church door closes. 

Present 

Jose wakes up screaming in his cheap motel room. He catches his breath for a minute as sweat drips down his body. He looks at a small photo of a beautiful young woman. "Linda," he whispers. 

Ch1 

Buffy is finishing up school for the days when a car stops a short distance from her and lets a passenger out. She wouldn't have noticed except he is carrying a guitar case with him and nothing else except for a small bag. Buffy also got a slightly off kiltered feeling she gets occassionally that she calls her 'slayer sense.' 

With a whispered, "Gracias, amigo." The stranger calmly walks down the street to the nearest motel. Buffy sees nothing wrong with this person at the time and figures that it might just be her nerves overreacting. 

Later on during Buffy's patroling, she finds that the current vampire leader, Mr. Trick, has decided to try to get rid of her once and for all. Ten strong vampires attack her at the same time. She manages to stake two but the rest are getting painful punches in. 

A shout rings out, "Chica, get down." Buffy instinctively knows that it might be good to do so and drops to the ground as gunshots ring out. 

( Bullets don't work on vampires. ) she thinks just as a bullet hits the vampire in the head, spraying unmentionable fluids all over the place just before the mess turns to dust. The rest of the vampires pause in shock. 

"Get over here, chica." Buffy runs over to the voice as the person forces the vampires back some more with his guns, dusting two with chest and stomach shots. She ducks behind the tree and sees a man standing behind it, holding two silver guns. He ejects an empty clip and puts in a new one, and kisses both guns. "Chica, look in my case, there are several gernades in it. Can you throw?" Buffy nods as the stranger fires around the tree. She opens the case to see a guitar. "Open the guitar." She does so and sees several guns, a lot of ammo, a crossbow, holywater, stakes, arrows, and several gernades. "Pull a pin and throw it at them." Buffy does so and two vampires are taken out with the phosphorus gernade. The last two decide to run for their undead lives. The stranger closes up his guitar and turns to the Slayer, "Get inside, girl, " He turns and walks away before Buffy can come up with an indignant response. 

Early morning - at Mr. Trick's headquarters 

"This person's bullets worked the same on us as normal bullets do humans. That is why we couldn't kill the Slayer." Mr. Trick had been tired of the Slayer ruining his plans and his days. And having two around is simply bad for business. So he sent ten vampires out to deal with the better of the two Slayers. 

"Yes, I see." There are rumors around the communities about a Hunter with a guitar case full of weapons. A few rumors attribute him to the death of over 100 of the community members. (Guess the rumors are more true than I considered.) 

"First I want this guy dealt with. He is only one human." 

"He doesn't work that way." A new voice says. Trick sees several new vampires walked indoors. What surprises him is the number of guns these vampires are carrying. Vampires rarely carry weapons for some strange reason. "El Desperado will kill you if you try that." 

"And how would you know." 

"We're all that survived his attacks on us when we tried to overwhelm him." 

"How do you propose to stop him." 

"Easy, I've got a weapon that even he cannot beat." A slender shadow deattaches itself from the wall. 

The next afternoon - at the High School library. 

". . .and somehow his bullets killed the vampires." Buffy concludes. 

"I'll go look up any sort of information that there might be on the guitar holding person. Willow, will you use that, that, machine." Willow smiles gently and turns on the computer. 

"Where would someone who has a guitar go to blend in in this town." Xander muses just before the answer comes to him. "The Bronze." 

Ch2 

The next night - at the Bronze. . . 

Jose walks into the Bronze, on the lookout for the undead. This wouldn't be like in Los Angeles, with those Goths he nearly killed. The people here are nice normal people who like most others he met in different towns, have no clue about the existance of vampires. He sits down at one of the empty chairs and puts his guitarcase in another chair. 

"Do you play?" A young man asks. Jose looks up and instinctively knows the look of another fellow musician. Shorter than him, but with a friendly expression and odd colored hair. 

"Sorry, but not with this guitar. It gives the wrong tune." Jose's voice is sad. (Linda always enjoyed listening to me play.) 

"Dude, don't worry, I've got an extra guitar." 

"I think that I will pass and just listen to you guys play tonight but I can give you my number. Maybe we can set up a jam session," Jose hands the kid his phone number and address just as he 'accidently' drips a drop of holy water on the kid's hand. He then sits back and closes his eyes to prevent tears from pouring out. He looks at his scarred and very slightly deformed hand. (I got the vampires who killed Linda, why should I be doing this now. You know the answer, Jose, you can't stop yourself, even if you could kill every vampire on the face of the earth, you couldn't stop.) He sits there and listens to the music, which isn't the greatest he has heard, but passable. (The kid who talked to me plays well. Enough with being lazy. It's time to make a difference around here.) Jose picks up his guitar case and walks out of the Bronze. 

Jose is walking toward the park when he notices that he is being followed. He quietly slips his hand into his jacket and pulls out one of his silver (the same silver in his bullets) plated .45's. Quietly he slips a fresh clip into the gun and gently kisses it. (Vampires always seem surprised when I shoot one of them, they die. Blessed silver bullets do that to vampires.) Jose puts down his guitar case, very quietly loads his other .45, and puts it back in his jacket. "Okay, whose there." He says just as he is attacked from the side and knocked down. He turns the momentum into a judo-like move and flips the vampire over and stakes it with a stake from his pocket. The other vampires come at him fast but not quite fast enough. Jose bring up his .45 and empties the clip into them. "Come on, you peon vampires, el Desperado awaits for you." 

But the clip quickly runs out. "He's out," one of the vampires shouts out, "Get him." Jose then laughs at the fools and draws his second gun and shoots any vampires who come at him. 

Soon all the vampires are dust. "Stupid bastards. But that's fifteen vampires I've seen in two nights. There must at least hundred of those damn things in town." Jose picks up his guitar case and goes back to his motel room. He then calls a number that he wished he didn't have too. 

"Hello, this is Prosville gun shop, may I help you." 

"Hey Larry, this is Jose." 

"Oh, shit, not you again. Not that I mind talking to you but _things_ always seems to happen around you." Larry knows he owes Jose his life. Those 'vampires' had nearly killed him but Jose pulled him out of that fire. 

"Nice to hear from you too. Can you send two kits to me." Jose asks. 

"Oh, fuck. Two kits!, you must be in some very deep shit." Larry says. Each kit contains 10, 20 silver round .45 clips, 5 phosphorus clips w/20 rounds each, a flare gun with 10 flares, 10 crossbow bolts, 5 phosphorus gernades. (Jose is asking for two of those things.) 

"Gracias, Larry." Jose says quietly. When can I expect to see the packages?" 

"One day with rush delivery. I just want to know one thing, where are you?" 

"Why do you want to know?" 

"Because if there are enough vampires there to need two kits, I am not going ANYWHERE near that place." 

"The place is a town called Sunnydale in California." 

"Hope to talk to you soon about the Cardinals, Jose." 

"Same to you." Jose hangs up. 

Larry quickly runs outide and flags down the trucker about to leave who owes him a favor. He hands the trucker 500 dollars and tells him to deliver the boxes to Sunnydale, Ca. and to make sure that they are there at close to noontime at Jose's motel. And to make sure, Larry told the person NOT to stay there overnight. The trucker, knowing that when Larry gives a warning, there is a good reason not to ignore it, so he plans on following the directions exactly as Larry says. 

Ch3 

The next morning - Trick's place - definately not for kids - unless they happen to be on the menu. "It is correct to say that you didn't kill this 'Desperado'." 

"Yes." 

"Told you that attacking him the normal way wouldn't work," Intercedes the visiting vampire. 

"So what are you going to do about it." Trick as with a calm voice. 

"We just need your community not to be out on the streets tonight when our plan goes into action. Tonight or tomarrow night, we kill him." The vampire says with a broad smile that accents the twisted scar on the side of his face. (I'll finally get you back for what you did to me, Desperado.) 

Sunnydale High School Library - afternoon after school 

"There is nothing in the books about this guitar carrying man. Willow, did you find anything in that idiot box." 

"Very little. Just a few rumors here and there about a guitar carrying vampire Hunter wandering around killing vampires." 

"Buffy, does Angel know anything about this man." 

"According to Angel, the Hunter is suppose to be some sort of boogeyman to vampires. Something to scare young vampires about so they comply their elders more readily. He says that rumors are this Hunter has killed over 100 vampires since he has shown up over a year ago." 

"That's pretty good," Xander says. "And since Sunnydale is the Club Med of vampires, we can easily figure why he is here. This all is good, isn't it." 

"Well, the information says he isn't always real careful when he is fighting." Willow says. 

"Someone might get hurt then. I might need to stop him." Buffy. "I didn't have any look finding him last night." 

"Finding who?" Oz asks as he walks into the library. 

"There's this new person going around killing vampires and carrying a guitar case full of weapons." 

"A guitar. There was a guy in the Bronze that had a guitarcase. I asked him for his number and address and he gave them to me." 

"Where is he at?" 

"The Motel 6 down the street. If he has all these guns, maybe it would be a good idea if I went there first before you especially after nightfall if he is as jumpy as he sounds." 

"I don't like the sound of that, Oz. What if he shoots at you?" 

"You know that bullets can't kill me unless they are silver, Willow." 

"I know but. . .you know, I worry sometimes." 

"There shouldn't be any sort of problem. I'll bring a guitar and we'll jam." 

Twenty minutes later - Motel 6. 

Oz knows on the room number that Jose left him and Buffy and the rest of the Slayettes wait in the parking lot by Gile's car. Jose jumps up from his sound sleep and trains his guns on the door. "Who is it?" 

"It's Oz, the person who talked to you last night at the Bronze, do you want to play?" 

"Si, Oz. Un momento, por favor." Jose places one gun in the jacket hanging near him and another under his pillow. He gets up and slowly opens the door. Oz walks in and immediately can smell the gun oil and powder with his enhanced smelling. "I just want you to know that I don't play real well anymore since my. . .accident." Jose shows Oz his hand. "Broke 10 bones in my hand and tore up the tendons. Took a year for physical therapy to bring back around 90 percent use. I can use it fine normally but for guitar, not real good." 

"I'm sorry." 

"No, Don't be. You want to play first Oz." 

"Okay." Oz plays one of his more favorite tunes with ease. 

"You're very good, Oz. I'll take the next song." After a moment of adjust the guitar, Jose plays a slippery and soothing tune. Oz knows that this person is an expert, but can also tell he hasn't played in a long time and the injury is throwing him off. 

"Cool. Where did you learn that." 

"When I was young, there was an illegal immigrant that came to town. He taught me how to play the guitar. He had taught me for a year before Immigration got him." 

"Oh. So what are you doing here." Oz asks. 

Jose looks at Oz with a strange look. ( Something is up, but what. ) "I've been wandering around for the past year, just learning about life, helping people when I can, and so on. Sunnydale happened to be on my travels. Did you know people use to call this place 'Boca del Inferno.'?" This is something that Jose had looked up in book about Sunnydale history today. 

"That is interesting." Jose doesn't miss the look on Oz's face. It isn't quite of bordom you would expect when getting a obsure fact about a town. It also isn't of surprise, which means he already knows. Just interested. "Look, I've got to get going. There are some friends I have to meet." 

"Well, we'll have to have another jam session again, Oz." Oz leaves and Jose prepares for tonight. 

Ch4 

Later - Jose walks into the park, with a loose limbed trot that is as flexible as is rapid. He is ready for anything, er - almost everything. He sees a shadow in the darkness. 

"Who's there." He asks. 

A shy voice answers, "It's me, Jose." 

"Linda," Jose says in a soft voice. In vampire hunting, hesitation can mean death. Jose hesitated and got blindsided by three vampires. They knock the guns out of his hands and he drops down onto the ground. He feels the vampires kick him and his ribs (maybe cracked, hopefully bruised.). He grabs for a small stake he has hidden and jab it into one of the vampires above him. The vampire jumps back and roars in pain. He rolls a few feet and pulls out his spare gun, a .22 pistol, and fires several rounds into the wounded vampire, dusting it. Jose gets up and tries to ignore the stabbing pain in his side when something cuts though his clothes and slashes his back. He turns and sees Linda, with a demonic face and claws. "Oh, God, you're one of them." 

"God has very little to do with this." Linda says in a smart voice and she hits him in the face, bruising his cheekbone and knocking him down. He would have bought it them with the rest of the vampires, but he is lucky and Buffy is there to save him. He stands there numbly as the vampires disappear. He picks up his guns and tries to ignore the feeling of pure pain in his side. 

"Fuck, that hurts. Perdon mi ingles." Jose slumps slightly as he tries to walk while carrying his guitar case. 

"Use me as support." With Buffy's help, they manage to get to and in Oz's vans. 

( No wonder Oz knows what this town is really like. ) "Guess that jam session might come sooner than we thought," Jose groans softly. 

"Guess, so." 

Ch5 

At the Summers' residence - 

Joyce Summers get the surprise of her life when her daughter comes in holding up a large man with a guitar case with her friends following close behind. The strange man Buffy is holding up is barely standing and has blood all over his back. 

"Tu madre, Buffy?" 

"What?" 

"Your mother, Buffy?" 

"Yes." 

"Pleased to meet you, Sra. Summers." 

"Same to you. . ." 

"Jose." 

"Shouldn't we be taking you to the hospital, Jose." 

"No! No hospital. Just get my jacket and shirt off. Cut them off if you have to." 

Buffy speaks up. "It might be a good idea if you went to the hospital." 

"Look, if I went to the hospital, one I would have to explain what happened and I am a lousy liar, the vampires would know where I am and try to kill me while I'm out, I've done this before. Please look in my guitar and get the small first aid kit." 

Mrs. Summers looks at Jose's cut on his back. "This looks like it needs stitches." 

"In the kit, you will find some local anesthic and a needle and thread. That should do for the cut if it need stitches. The ribs are probably just bruised and I can just ignore them." 

"But, but. . ." Buffy says. 

"Don't worry, just do what I say, por favor." Jose turns the chair around and sits down slowly. "Cut off my shirt, and take off my jacket, if you can." The jacket is easily shrugged off and the shirt is cut off. "First take the bottle of alcohol and pour it on the cut. Vampire slashes might be septic and this also helps against infection." Buffy holds Jose down as her mother pours the alcohol on his wound. He jerks wildly for a second, grips the chair back, and grimaces from the sting of the alcohol. 

"Now someone rub the numbing cream around the wound. Use a towel or napkin while doing that or your fingers will numb." He feels someone rubbing cream on his back. Soon he feels the spot lose feeling. "Now someone sew up the wound with very small stitches." 

After a time that Jose couldn't tell he hears. "Okay, I've got it." It is the girl, Willow. 

"Pour some more alcohol over it and then take a pad and some wrap and cover the stitches." the three women manage to wrap and pad the stitched area. 

Jose slowly gets up and winces slightly as the feeling comes back into his back. "Thank you for all your help." 

Buffy asks, "It sounds like you've down the whole stitching thing before." 

"Si, my leg once. That cut took eighteen stitches." Jose shugs his jacket on, wincing at the sight of the slash on the back of it. His voice turns serious, "What do you have to do with this whole vampire thing." 

Buffy hesistates before continuing, "I'm kinda like. . .the Slayer." 

Jose things about this for a minute. "Would you please tell me what a Slayer is?" 

"In every generation there a Slayer, a chosen one who fights the forces of darkness, blah, blah, blah, blah, you get the picture." 

"You're basically the Slayer of things that go bump in the night." 

"I'm just wondering, why do you hunt vampires?" Willow asks. 

Jose stares at the wall for a moment before saying in a voice that is grief filled, "About three years ago, my girlfriend and I were attacked by vampires. I got to a church but Linda was dragged away." He turns to Oz, "That is the 'accident' that nearly destroyed my hand. Linda is why I keep on fighting the vampires, killing them when I can but tonight I paused because. . .I saw Linda was one of them." 

"Ouch." Xander says. 

Buffy tries to change the subject, "I'm wondering how your bullets can kill vampires." 

Jose almost seems relieved that the subject has been changed, "I have two kinds of bullets, phosphorus rounds that burn, and blessed silver bullets that act like holy water. Both kinds are Glazer safety rounds, they make a big hole in vampires and other living things, but not the wall behind them." He ejects the clip from one gun and starts loading it with bullets from a box in his guitar. He then loads the clip back into his gun and chambers a round. 

"Uh, I'm sorry about bleeding all over your floor, Sra. Summers. I'll be going now." 

"You don't have to Jose, why don't you stay here tonight." 

"I don't want to impose. . ." 

"It isn't any trouble at all." 

"I can use a few hours sleep." 

Those few hours later - 

Joyce Summers wakes up to the smell of frying eggs. Knowing that her daughter barely has the cooking skill to boil water, she walks downstairs to see Jose at the stove frying said eggs. 

"Buenos dios, Sra. Summers, just sit down, coffee is ready, eggs should be in a minute." 

"You shouldn't have to do that, Jose." 

"De Nada. It has been so long since I have cooked or even eaten something not out of a restaurant or a can." Mrs. Summers sits down to a table almost crowded with weapons. Jose sees her discomfort and quickly places the guns into his guitar. 

"I have to ask, why do you use your guitar to hold your weapons." 

"Well, Sra. Summers. . ." 

"Please call me Joyce." 

"Well Joyce, the guitar represents everything good that those vampires have taken from me, mi Linda, who loved my music, mi hand, which played that music. Any time I feel that I can't go on, I look at the guitar and Linda's picture and keep going." He gives a plate of eggs to Joyce and sits down with his own. 

"Dammit, Buffy is supposed to be down here by now." Joyce says and then she raises her voice, "Buffy, get up, its time to go." 

"Don't blame her too hard after last night." Jose says. "But if you want to wake her up." He smiles, his mood changed in preparation of a joke. He quickly opens his guitar case, and grabs a canned air horn. He then hands Joyce a pair of earplugs and places a pair in his own ears. 

"BUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

Buffy cames almost stumbling down the stairs in her teeshirt and shorts, awake now. "What is going on here?" Joyce and Jose almost fall out of their chairs laughing. 

"Tu mama did warn you, Buffy." Jose says in a parental tone before laughing again. Buffy glares at him. 

"Dear, why don't you have some eggs." Joyce says. Buffy grabs a plate of eggs and starts eating them, still glaring at the innocent looking Jose. 

"What?" Jose asks mischeviously. "You just think that since I am holding a airhorn, and I am laughing with your Mother, that _I_ did something to provoke this situation." 

"You know that I will get you back for this." Buffy counters. 

"Of course, it gives me something to look forward to afterwards." 

"After breakfast, we should probably go talk to Giles." At Jose's questioning look Buffy says, "He's helps we out with all those booky things and. . .well Watches me." 

After breakfast, Jose and Buffy allow Joyce to drop them off at the highschool. They walk in, Buffy in the lead and Jose slightly in back, wearing a black duster and carrying his guitar case and has a real serious look on his face. (Fun times over, time to kick some ass). He slides his hand into a pocket and grips his .45 nervously. He stands nervously at attention as the Slayerette's, as Buffy says they called themselves, talked to Buffy. Jose decides to talk before they do. "I don't know what you are going to do, but if you can give me a list of vampire hangouts, I'll just go and kill them." 

"What, nothing else to do?" Xander asks. 

"No, not really." 

"What are you going to do about. . .Linda." Willow asks. 

Jose sits down and puts his head into his hands and says after a minute, "We were almost married close. This began with her and it will end with her." His face regains an expression of stone and he walks out the library. 

"What does he mean by that?" Xander says a few moments after the duster clad man leaves the library with the list. 

"In marriage, it is 'death do us part'." Willow says slowly. 

Ch6 

At Willy's - you know the dive. 

The place was quiet except for a few vampires who have chosen it for their daily resting place. Suddenly, Jose walks in and places several silenced rounds into the closest vampire, which turns to dust. The second and third soon join it. Willy stands there in shock, "Who-who are you?" Jose tucks his gun back into his duster and leaves the same way he came. Six targets, 22 vampires, are done that way in this day. One place, he hotwired an old car and fixed it so it would drive itself through the wall of the place, collapsing it and bringing in the sunlight. The last few times, he barely got out before the police arrived. 

Soon nightfall comes. 

Jose goes to the cemetary, prepares, and waits. The first automatic shots cause him to instinctively drop to the ground. ( Damn, they're using guns. ) He rolls down the hill and hides behind the tree. ( Comeon, you stupid bastards, just a little closer. ) The vampires are overconfident with their weapons and agree with his thoughts. The buried explosive detonates with a radio control and they are vaporized. Jose runs out and starts shooting at the survivors, catching them off guard. He gets shot once, glancing off the ribs, but tries to continue moving, stumbling some. Soon all the vampires are dead except for the one with Linda's body. He stands there, staring for several seconds. 

"Are you going to shoot me now, Jose." Linda's eyes tear up. 

"Linda, you and you're friends wanted Desperado dead, fine." He tosses her his gun. "I quit, Desperado is dead." He turns and walks away. 

Linda stares at Jose in shock for a moment and then she brings up the gun and presses the trigger, clicking on the empty clip. 

"NO! I won't let you get away this time, you are mine damn it." She runs to Jose and knocks him down, picks him up, and then knocks him down again. She then picks him up and dangles him above her, battered and bleeding. 

"Do it." Jose hisses. Linda bites down on his neck and starts draining his blood. She just hears his soft voice say, "Gracias, mi amour" and his hand goes limp, pulling a wire that is connected to his belt of gernades. 

____________________ 

Epilogue 

Buffy comes into sight just as the gernades explode violently, blowing her off her feet. After getting up, she finds his guitar close by and opens it to find a note above a folder that contains techniques and other tricks for fighting vampires from what see sees in it. The note is painstakenly written in English. 

To The Slayer, Or Whomever Finds This Message: 

Please Read My Story And Heed My Warning: 

The Nighttime And The Monsters Which Inhabit It Are Real And Must Be Fought, Not By The Ones Who Have Abilites Beyond Normal Man Alone, But By The Common Man Or Woman Who Says: 

'We Must Not Go Quietly Into The Night, We Must Not Give Up Without A Fight,' 

If This Is The Slayer, Find That Common Man Who Is Willing To Fight For What Is Right And Teach Him To Fight The Good Fight. 

If One Man Or Woman Follows A Path To The Hunter Of Evil, I Have Not Perished In Vain This Night. 

Jose Regaldo El Desperado 


End file.
